Addison-based machine learning startup Brainspace has been bought as part of a $2.8 billion deal that will turn a large footprint of data centers and several companies into a global cybersecurity company.

Brainspace has been acquired by two private equity firms, London-based BC Partners and Miami-based Medina Capital. Medina Capital has been a lead investor for Brainspace. The deal will bolt together 57 data centers from CenturyLink and several security and data analytics companies, including Brainspace.

The new company will be based in Miami, but Brainspace will stay in Addison and its leadership will not change, chief executive officer Dave Copps said. With more money and the support of data centers, Copps said he'll be able to add to the company 62-person team and it will develop more software.

"This is not my first company to sell and a lot of times, this isn't the story," he said. "A lot of times, they'll take the company, lop off the leadership and fold in the software. That's not the case here. They want to pour gas on the flame."

Copps said he's thrilled about the new company, and he called Brainspace's work "the most exciting thing I've ever been part of."

The business deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, pending regulatory approval.

Manuel Medina, founder and managing partner of Medina Capital, will lead the new cybersecurity company as chief executive officer. Three other companies will also be part of the deal: Cryptzone, a Boston-based cloud security company, Catbird, a Santa Cruz-based cloud security company and Easy Solutions, a Miami-based company focused on detection and prevention of electronic fraud.

Copps said Brainspace will "double down on developing new versions of its software, which can comb through emails, documents, text messages and more and make sense of the data. The software learns from unstructured information and turns it into visual presentations that are easier to analyze. Brainspace's software is used for electronic discovery during major corporate lawsuits (think Enron or Wells Fargo), internal investigations by companies and counter-terrorism efforts.

Brainspace clients include Fortune 500 companies, major consulting firms like Deloitte and KPMG and intelligence agencies.

Copps, 54, co-founded the machine learning company with Chris Rohde in 2007. It was originally called PureDiscovery and was renamed Brainspace in 2014. He previously co-founded Engenium, another search technology firm, in 1999. It sold for $27 million seven years later.